No Problem Ma'am: The Grave of "Police Academy's" David Graf

Paul David Graf was born in Zanesville, Ohio on April 16, 1950.  A theatre major, he graduated from Otterbein College outside of Columbus in 1972.  He'd go on to graduate school, but dropped out to pursue acting full time.

Graf headed west and resettled in Los Angeles, where he made his television debut in 1979, appearing as a contestant on The $25,000 Pyramid.  His celebrity partner was Patty Duke.  Years later, after having carved out a name for himself in Hollywood, Graf would return to the game show as a celebrity himself, even appearing with Duke for two such appearances.  Watch one of Graf's episodes here.

As he began his acting career, he was fortunate to land guest-starring roles on some of the most popular series of the 1980s, including M*A*S*H and The Dukes of Hazzard.  Watch him steal the sheriff's patrol car in this clip.

All of this of course, was laying the ground work for the role he would be most famously associated with, that of Sergeant Eugene Tackleberry in all seven Police Academy films. Seven?  Watch the trailer for the original here.  Believe it or not, Police Academy was turned into a Saturday morning cartoon for one season in 1988.  Watch the intro here.

Tackleberry's loves of firearms was played for maximum comedic effect throughout the series, and would no doubt be ruled politically incorrect today.  But here's a compilation video.

Once the film series had run its course, Graf continued to find work on television, on such series as The West Wing and Step By Step.  He'd also appear as Fred Noonan, the real-life navigator of famed aviatrix Amelia Earhart, in an episode of Star Trek: Voyager.  Watch him take Captain Janeway hostage here.

In 1995, Graf returned to the big screen in The Brady Bunch Movie, assuming the role of Sam the butcher.  Watch him woo Alice here.

By 2001, Graf and his family had relocated to Phoenix, Arizona.  It was there on April 7 that he suffered a fatal heart attack, just nine days shy of his 51st birthday.  His family took him home to Ohio, where he was buried at Forest Rose Cemetery in Lancaster.

On the day I visited, someone had left a Tackleberry action figure from the cartoon series as a tribute to Graf.

Graf was interred in the family plot.

RIP, Eugene.